Second Workshop “Civic School for Sound EU Practice” implemented

22. Dezember 2015

Participants and trainer of the Odessa Workshop

From 7-10 December 2015, four weeks after the first workshop of the project Civic School for Sound EU Practice (CiSEP) was opened in Odessa, Martin Stein, project manager at Institut für Europäische Politik, returned to the port city at the Black Sea to successfully implement the second workshop of the first project stage with participants from different CSOs of Central and Southern Ukraine.

The workshop was again aimed at conveying knowledge and skills. With regard to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in general and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) in particular two Ukrainian trainer presented and discussed the contents of Chapter 12 (Transparency) and 13 (Sustainable Development and Trade) of the DCFTA and the role Civil Society can play in their respective implementation. The participants also learned more about cross border cooperation with the help of a representative of the Joint Operational Programme Romania-Ukraine-Moldova, which is funded through the European Neighbourhood Instrument.

As a key objective of CiSEP is the transfer of skills to foster the capacity building for CSOs in the context of the EU Association, the participants had some lively sessions on instruments to monitor the association process. The sessions were led by an experienced trainer from one of Polands largest NGOs with a focus on monitoring government activities. His shared experiences of working and not-working as well as good and bad strategies and activities for advocacy and campaigning were esteemed by the present Ukrainian CSO representatives.

For Odessa the final workshop of the first stage of the project will take place at the end of January.

The workshop is part of the workshop series “Civic School for Sound EU Practice” (CiSEP), a capacity building project for members of Civil Society Organizations in Ukraine that is organized by the IEP and implemented in cooperation with Polissya Foundation for International and Regional Studies (Chernihiv, Ukraine). The project takes place over a two-year period in the form of a progressively structured training program in the cities of Chernihiv, Odesa and Lviv. The training cycles convey comprehensive knowledge on constituent parts and effects of the Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. Furthermore, participants study and practice approaches for sustainable monitoring of the association process. They are instructed in methods of strategy development, monitoring, campaigning, etc.

The trainings are led by experts from administrative bodies and civil society organizations in EU member and candidate countries. The long-term project creates a sustainable network and synergies for the cooperation of participating Civil Society Organizations.